Strong Monarchs in
England:
Age of Absolutism in
England
King John: (Henry’s son)
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1154, Henry II
Founded common law
Adopted the idea of juries
Extended royal power
Church officials and
nobles not happy
Magna Carta
(Latin for "Great Charter", literally "Great Paper"),
1215
Greedy ruler
Angered
nobles with
high taxes
Abused his
power
….sounds like a
nice guy, huh?
Limits the power of the King
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Magna Carta is the most significant early
influence on the long historical process
that has lead to the rule of constitutional
law today:
• originally created because of
disagreements between the Pope, King
John and his English nobles over the
rights of the King.
• The Magna Carta required the king to
renounce certain rights and respect
certain legal procedures and to accept
that the will of the king could be bound
by law.
Parliament:
• Nobles and clergy =House
of Lords
• Knights and middle-class
citizens = House of
Commons
• Rulers would turn to
Parliament for funds,
advice, and strength
against foreign enemies
• Won the right to approve
new taxes=power over the
monarch
• Checked the power of the
monarch
Magna Carta:
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The King (Monarch) had to adhere (obey) to law!
The rule of law became a key principle in the democratic
tradition!
• Nobles had certain rights…over time those rights extended to
all English citizens.
• Taxes levied only by common consent
• No man shall be arrested or imprisoned except by the legal judgment of his peers (jury) or by the law
of the land (due process).
Tudor Family of England
• Name of dynasty
that occupied
the throne from
1485 until 1603.
• Five monarchs,
the most
notable being…
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Henry VIII
Henry VII
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Broke with the Catholic Church.
Named himself head of the Church of
England.
•
1.) Catherine of Aragon (divorced, died while
detained under guard at Kimbolton Castle, mother
of Mary I)
2.) Anne Boleyn (divorced and later executed,
mother of Elizabeth I)
3.) Jane Seymour (died days after giving birth to
Edward VI, believed to be caused by birth
complications)
4.) Anne of Cleves (divorced, outlived the rest of
the wives)
5.) Catherine Howard (divorced and later executed)
6.) Catherine Parr (widowed)
•
• Established the
king’s authority
over nobles.
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• “King Henry VIII, to six wives he
was wedded. one died, one
survived, two divorced, two
beheaded.”
Elizabeth I
• Last of the
Tudors, daughter
of Henry VIII
• Under her reign,
England became
the strongest
country and
naval
power
world
in the
Elizabeth conti.
Elizabeth I died in 1603
Virgin Queen
She had no heirs of her
own to pass her throne.
Mary cousin, a Catholic,
tried to gain the English
throne for her son
Elizabeth decided to have
her beheaded.
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Tudors’
Contributions…
The Stuart Dynasty
• Played an important part
in turning England from a
European backwater still
immersed in the Middle
Ages into a powerful
Renaissance state that in
the coming centuries
would dominate much of
the planet with its
powerful navy.
James I
• Protestant
• Believed that he
had that divine
right to rule.
• Struggled with
Parliament of
England.
• Poor leader
• People were
happy when he
died.
• Royal house of
Scotland (13711707) and
England: after
Elizabeth I died
with no heir.
James I conti.
• Disputed with dissenters
• Puritans: differed with the Church
of England
• Wanted to “purify” the church of
Catholic practices
• A result: He called for a new
translation of the Bible: The King
James version (long influence on
English language and literature)
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Charles I
Petition of the Right
• Son of James I
• Also struggled
for power with
Parliament
• King when the
English Civil War
broke out.
• Parliament passed
during Charles I
reign.
• King couldn’t tax
people without
consent from
Parliament.
• Charles ignored
Parliament.
• This angers
Parliament = War
starts
English Civil War
• 1640
• Cavaliers (aka
Royalists) –
mostly Catholic,
loyal to king
• Roundheads –
against the king,
Puritan.
Roundheads
• Puritans (Protestants)
• Fighting for the rights of
Parliament
• Leader: Oliver Cromwell
• They won.
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England under Cromwell:
• Became military dictatorship.
• Puritans ruled with cruelty.
Puritan Society:
• At the end of the civil war there was a political
revolution and a social one as well:
• “Root out godlessness” and impose a “rule of
saints”
• No: lewd dancing, theaters, taverns, gambling,
too much pleasure or mirth…really, when all was
said and done, don’t smile!
Charles I
• Beheaded
The Commonwealth:
• After the execution of Charles I, England
became a republic, known as the
commonwealth
• Leader: Cromwell
• Abolished: monarchy, Parliament , and the
Church of England.
• Cromwell faced attacks from the
supporters of Charles II
Parliament’s reason for beheading the king:
“No Ruler could claim absolute
Power and ignore the rule of law!”
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Cromwell’s death
• By either malaria or poisoning
• 1658
• After his burial he was exhumed and
hung, drawn and quartered by the
Royalists after the Restoration of
the monarchy, which was the
traditional punishment for treason in
England at the time.
• Puritans lost power
• People tired of military rule and
strict Puritan ways
• In 1660, newly elected Parliament
invited Charles II to return to
England from exile
• “Kingless Decade” ended with
restoration of monarchy!
Charles II:
• Popular
• Reopened theaters and
taverns
• Restored the Official Church
of England
• Tolerated other Protestants
(Presbyterians, Quakers,
Baptists)
• Accepted Petition of Right
and dealt with Parliament,
but secretly:
• Believed in Divine Right (like
his father before him) and…
• Had Catholic sympathies
The Restoration
• Parliament
voted the son of
Charles I to
become king:
Charles II
• Period of time
called
Restoration
James II
• Brother of Charles II
• 1685: Inherited the
throne
• Became Catholic:
and flaunted it!
• English Protestants
were scared he
might restore the
Roman Catholic
Church.
• Tried to give
Catholics and
Protestants equal
rights.
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Glorious Revolution
• 1688
• Parliament forced
James II to give up
the throne.
• Invited his
daughter, Mary, a
Protestant, and
William III, king of
Holland, to become
king and queen.
Revolution conti….
•When Mary landed her
army:
•James II fled to France
•This bloodless overthrow of
a king became known as the
Glorious Revolution!
William III
Mary
•Before they (Mary & William)
could be crowned:
•They had to accept acts
passed by Parliament in 1689:
The English Bill of
Rights
English Bill of Rights
• not a bill of rights
• Not a statement of
certain rights that
citizens and/or
residents of a free and
democratic society
have (or ought to have
• addresses only
the rights of
Parliament.
English Bill of Rights
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freedom from royal interference with the law
freedom from taxation by royal prerogative
freedom to petition the King
freedom from a peace-time standing army, without
agreement by Parliament
freedom [for Protestants] to bear arms for selfdefense, as allowed by law
freedom to elect members of Parliament without
interference
the freedom of speech in Parliament
freedom from cruel and unusual punishments, and
excessive bail
freedom from fines and forfeitures without trial
U.S. Bill of Rights applies to all American citizens!
Big Difference!!!
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Toleration Act
Act of Settlement
• Gave religious freedom to
Puritans, Quakers, and other
Protestants
• NOT Catholics or Jews.
• Catholics could never become
kings or queens of England.
17th and 18th Centuries…
• England
• 1.) went from an
absolute monarchy
to a limited
monarchy
• 2.) Thanks to the Magna Carta &
The Glorious Revolution:
• England started to develop
their parliamentary democracy
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• 3.) England continued to expand
its empire and kept its position
and a strong power.
• How did they do this…What
enabled them to take over most
the world?
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